We are baby boomers privileged to enjoy our dream of early retirement while traveling full-time. We recently traded our 2005 37' Allegro Bay for a 2015 DRV Tradition fifth wheel being towed by a 2015 Silverado 3500HD Duramax dually. We are in our ninth year of being on the road. We invite you to join us as we explore this amazing country. and navigate the full-time RV lifestyle. Our heartfelt thanks to our soldiers and their families for their sacrifices to ensure our freedom so that we can pursue our dream.

June 13, 2010

Reagan Presidential Library

After having recently visited the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock and the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, we found out we really enjoy visiting presidential libraries. We were disappointed that we didn't take the time last year to visit the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. In May when we were finalizing our summer travel plans for this year, we decided to go the extra 500 miles from the Grand Canyon to visit it.

It was about a three hour drive from the county park at Calico Ghost Town in Yermo, CA, to Simi Valley where we stayed at Tapo Canyon Regional Park, which is another county park (Ventura County). Tapo Canyon is located a little north of the city of Simi Valley. The park only has about 20 sites, but they all have full hookups with 30/50 amp electric. The road around the campground and the pads are paved, but the rest of the campground is all dirt. Even with a 10% senior discount, the nightly rate was a bit high at almost $40 when the reservation fee was added in. However, the sites are generously spaced, the surrounding hills are attractive, and the campground is nice and quiet.

When we arrived, only a few sites were occupied, but we saw most of the rest of the sites had "Reserved" tags on them, so we waited for the place to full up and get zooy on the weekend. When only one other RV showed up Friday night, we checked the reserved tags and found they were all left over from the previous weekend which was Memorial Day. We ended up sharing the campground with only 6 other RVs, including the campground hosts.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, located in
the hills above Simi Valley, and was only about 20 minutes from the campground. The library was opened in 1991 and is designed in a Spanish colonial style. The intimate appearance of the entrance belies the fact this is the largest of all the presidential libraries.

We decided to go to the library on Friday hoping there would be fewer people there than on the weekend. However, we forgot about school field trips, and there were at least 5 school buses in the parking lot when we arrived. As it turned out, the library is plenty big enough we hardly noticed the kids. Plus, when we did cross paths with them, we found them to be among the best behaved school groups we have ever seen.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was born in Illinois, and, after spending a few years in radio in the mid-west, he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1930s where he became an actor. He appeared in numerous TV programs and 52 movies, one of the most famous of which is Knute Rockne, All American. Ronald Reagan played the role of George "the Gipper" Gip (win one for the Gipper). Reagan was known by the nickname "the Gipper" for the rest of his life.

In his younger days, Ronald Reagan was a liberal Democrat who admired Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. In the early 1950s, however, he began supporting Republican political candidates, and he served as Republican Governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

In 1976, Reagan narrowly lost the Republican Presidential nomination to incumbent Gerald Ford, who ultimately lost the election to Jimmy Carter. Reagan won the Republican nomination in 1980 and defeated Carter in November of that year.

Parts of the library were closed for
renovations when we were there in preparation for Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday in 2011. However, most of the exhibits were open including the full-size replica of the Oval Office as it appeared during President Reagan's terms in office.

The Air Force One Pavilion was opened in 2001 after the retirement of the Boeing 707 that was used as Air Force One by President Reagan. The 747 that is currently in use was ordered during the Reagan Administration, but was not put into service until Reagan's successor, President George H. W. Bush, took office.

We were able to tour the aircraft, but photographs were not permitted on board. We did, however, stop for a photo at the exit by the tail.

The Air Force One Pavilion also has a Marine One helicopter on display. President Eisenhower was the first U. S. President to use a helicopter for transportation. "White Tops," as they are called because of the familiar green and white paint scheme started by President Kennedy, are used for on shorter journeys and to shuttle
the President back and forth from the White House to Andrews Air Base in Maryland to board Air Force One.

As we explained when we visited the retired Air Force One plane at the LBJ Library, these
aircraft are commonly called Air Force One and Marine One, but they do not receive that official designation until the President is actually on board.

President Reagan's limousine is also on display in the pavilion. This 1984 Cadillac was state-of-the-art when it was first built. Incidentally, President Clinton's limo in Little Rock will be the last one put on display. All limos after that will undergo destructive testing when they are decommissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the armor in order to make improvements in the future.

There are
beautiful views down into the valley from several locations at the
library, including from the terrace outside the pavilion. They even say
you can see the Pacific Ocean, but it was pretty hazy the day we were there. The haze in Simi Valley was gray because it was caused mostly by the marine layer (fog off the ocean), but the haze looking toward LA (out of the photo to the left) was brownish because it was a combination of marine layer and smog.

From the
outside stairway to the upper level of the pavilion we could see a
whimsical topiary in the shape of an Republican elephant.

President Reagan visited 26 foreign countries during his two terms in office. These countries are represented by their flags displayed on the upper floor of the Air Force One Pavilion. There is an accompanying display of a number of photos showing some of those visits.

President Reagan is credited by many as being instrumental in bringing about the
end to the Cold War. The upper floor of the pavilion also has a display symbolizing Checkpoint Charlie, which was the best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

There was also an excellent video detailing Reagan's role in ending the Cold War. He took a
tough stance against the USSR by strengthening the U. S. Military, by
reviving the B-1 bomber program canceled by Carter, by strengthening
ties with our allies, and by proposing the Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI). SDI was a land and space-based nuclear missile defense
system. Opponents of dubbed it "Star Wars" and said it wouldn't work. But it did work to help end the Cold War, and we didn't even have to build it. Just the prospect of a comprehensive defense system was enough.

In a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin, Ronald Reagan challenged Michail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, by saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The wall came down a little over two years later in 1989, and the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991.

Outside on
the lawn of the Reagan Library is a section of the Berlin Wall. The East Berlin (communist) side of the wall is stark, gray concrete. The West Berlin side was decorated with artwork and graffiti.

From the pavilion the tour went to the National Treasures Gallery where there were some of gifts given to President Reagan by visiting heads of state.

Also on display is the suit President Reagan was wearing when he was shot during an assassination attempt by John Hinkley, Jr. on March 30, 1981. Although Reagan recovered, the bullet narrowly missed his heart and pierced his left lung.

One of ours favorites at the museum was a temporary display of a miniature of the White House. With a scale of one inch equals one foot, the model is 50 feet long and 18 feet wide. The model, which was created by the Zweiffel family, took over 600,000 hours to build. First exhibited in 1979, this model has been seen by 42 million people.

You can peer through the windows and see hand-carved tables and chairs, crystal chandeliers and working televisions. The wall on the back side is open revealing even more of the amazing detail.

There are also displays of individual rooms from various periods in history including this one with President Lincoln. Lincoln appears to be looking into the fireplace in deep
thought.

We left the library by way of Reagan Memorial site. After struggling with Alzheimer's Disease in his later years, Ronald Reagan Died on June 5, 2004. After a state funeral in Washington, D. C., his body was flown to the library in Simi Valley for burial.

President Reagan once said, "There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit." This presidential library exemplifies his belief. There were bronze plaques and pictures recognizing many, many of the people who served with him. Although we've only visited three presidential libraries so far, this was the first time we have seen such a magnanimous gesture in such a setting.

We enjoyed our visit to the Reagan Presidential Library and learning more about this period in history. After our visit we had a day to chill out around the motor home, then we headed for a new location. Stay tuned.

July 05, 2009

Shasta State Historic Park

About 6
miles west of Redding, CA, is the town of Shasta, or more accurately, the
remnants of the town of Shasta. Shasta was a booming mining town in the
1850s into the 1870s, and what remains of the town is now part of Shasta State Historic Park.
There's not a whole lot to Shasta, but what is there is a gem. The
photo below shows the former Shasta County Courthouse, which is now a
museum.

Pierson
Reading, who was born in New Jersey, came to California in 1843 and
worked for John Sutter for a time. You can read more about John Sutter in our previous post Sacramento, CA Part I: Sutter's Fort. Pierson Reading received a land grant from the Mexican
government in 1844 for over 26,000 acres along the Sacramento River
near the site of present-day Redding. Notice the difference in the spelling of the names. We'll explain that a little later.

Pierson
Reading was one of the first to visit the site of the discovery of gold
at Sutter's Mill in 1848 to the south near Sarcamento.When he returned to his home, he also
discovered gold nearby. Word spread, and soon there was a community of
tents and lean-tos called Reading Springs. The town began to prosper as
a commercial center, and the tents gave way to permanent houses, barber
shops, stores, hotels, and saloons. In 1850, Reading Springs was
renamed Shasta.

By
the late 1860s, most of the mining claims were mined out, and the town
started to decline. When the railroad decided in 1871 not to detour six
miles out of its way to pass through Shasta, it was a big blow to the
town. The new city that popped up on the banks of the Sacramento River
six miles east of Shasta along the railroad line was named Redding by the railroad in honor of railroad man Benjamin Redding. In 1874, residents changed the name of the town to Reading in honor of the area's original resident Pierson Reading, but the railroad refused to accept the new name so it was changed back to Redding in 1880.

Redding
grew quickly because of the railroad, and when the county seat was moved from Shasta to
Redding, Shasta's fate was sealed. By the late 1880s, residents of
Shasta began moving to Redding. Residents who couldn't sell their
houses and businesses abandoned them. Some buildings were dismantled
and rebuilt in Redding.

In the early 1900s, several
individuals and groups recognized the historical value of the old town
and made efforts to save the remaining buildings. The state acquired
the property and opened the museum in the old courthouse in 1950.

The
admission to the museum is $2. There is a 5-minute movie about the
history of Shasta, as well as stories about life in Shasta and displays
of some of the furnishings and other possessions that belonged to
Shasta residents. There was a display of some balances and weights that were used for gold back in the day.

The courtroom, shown below, is set up the way it was
in 1861.

The next photo shows the jail in the basement of the courthouse.

The photo below shows one of the cells. The cells were bigger than those at Alcatraz, but they were still grim. The cells in Shasta didn't look to be nearly as secure as those in Alcatraz, but the ball and chain on the floor would help take care of that.

Out
on the main street, which is California Highway 299, you can see the
remains of some of Shasta's businesses. The buildings have been
stabilized with steel beams and supports, and it looks like there has
been preparation for the installation of some informational plaques;
but California's budget problems undoubtedly have put everything on
hold. In fact, all the California State Parks we have visited are
concerned about being closed altogether, or at least closed during the
week. In the next photo, Margery is exploring the remnants of some of the old buildings.

Fire
destroyed most of Shasta in 1852, but residents quickly rebuilt. When
another fire destroyed about 70 businesses along Main Street six months
later, the merchants rebuilt again, but this time with brick and heavy
iron shutters which enabled them to boast they had fireproof
construction.

The real star of Shasta State Historic Park is the Litsch General Store, shown in the next photo.

Frank
Litsch purchased an existing building and opened the store in 1873. Even though this was after Shasta's heyday, the
business prospered for a time. But the new railroad station in Redding and the moving of the
county seat from Shasta to Redding in 1888 took their toll. Frank finally sold the
business to his nephew in 1895 and moved to Redding himself.

The
nephew kept the business going by adding postal services in 1903 and
gasoline pumps in the 1920s. The antique store fixtures and old
fashioned merchandise helped earn the store a reputation as a museum of
sorts, which helped attract customers. Finally in 1960, the store and all its
contents were sold to the State of California and became part of the
State Historic Park.

The
great thing about this general store is some of the items in the store
are reproductions and some are antiques that are original to the store. The photo below shows the interior of Litsch General Store.

We
have seen quite a few old general stores, but most of what was on
display in them was pretty rusty and dusty. With many of the items on
display being reproductions, the Litsch Store feels more like a real
1880s general store with new merchandise for sale rather than a museum.
For example, the labels on the cans in the photo above were provided by Del Monte and are reprints of the original labels. The new look to the cans makes it feel like you are back in 1880.

Jon, who was the volunteer on duty the day we were there, was very
informative. In the next photo, he is demonstrating a ribbon crimper.
The purpose of crimping the ribbon was to make it more decorative for
use as trim on things such as ladies' hats.

Another
advantage to reproductions is that they can be handled. While the curators come in periodically with white gloves to clean and care for the antiques, visitors can pick up and examine the reproductions. Jon showed us a
pair of blue jeans that Levi's made for the museum to their original
1870s pattern.

There is also a restored, working bakery in Shasta, but it wasn't open the day we were there.

If
you're ever in the Redding, CA, area, we recommend checking out Shasta
State Historic Park. The hours for the general store and bakery are
different from those of the museum so call find out the hours,
especially of the general store, before you go.

June 29, 2009

Napa, CA Part II: Sightseeing

We came to Napa to see the beauty of California's Wine Country, but it seems the flowers grow there almost as well as the grapes. Almost all the wineries were lavishly landscaped. We also happened upon the nature center in the photo below just driving along the road and we stopped for a photo. The whole hillside was covered with flowers, decorative shrubs, and ornamental grasses.

Another thing we stopped to see was the Charles M. Schultz Museum located in nearby Santa Rosa about an hour northwest of Napa. Charles M. Schultz (1922 - 2000) was the cartoonist who drew the Peanuts comic strip. Margery's dad always liked the Peanuts comic strip, and that's probably the reason she is fond of it, too. In the next photo, Margery is scratching Snoopy's nose outside the museum.

Not to be left out, the photo below shows Paul making friends with Charlie Brown.

For years, many Peanuts fans flocked to see traveling exhibits of the original drawings for the cartoon strips. With the 50th anniversary of the Peanuts cartoon strip approaching in the late 1990s, several of Schultz's friends wanted a permanent place for fans to be able to view his original drawings. However, Charles Schultz didn't consider himself to be a "museum piece," so he resisted the idea. A local historian, Schultz's wife, and his attorney continued working on the idea of a museum, and Charles Schultz eventually become more enthusiastic. Unfortunately, he would pass away in 2000 before the museum could be completed. The museum opened in 2002.

The site chosen for the museum was in the area where Schultz lived, worked, and hung out for the last 30 years of his life - near his studio, his home, and next to the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, which Charles Schultz owned and visited every day.

The Peanuts syndicated cartoon strip first appeared in seven newspapers in 1950. Charles Schultz announced his retirement in 1999 for health reasons and passed away shortly thereafter. Although there are animated specials under development (the story lines are based on themes from the comic strips Schultz has drawn over the years), by Schultz's wishes no new Peanuts cartoon strips will ever be drawn. Cartoons still appear daily, but they are from the 17,897 strips already in existence.

Inside the museum, there are loads of original Peanuts drawings on display. These include not only the formal drawings that Charles Schultz inked for final publication, but also numerous pencil sketches that he drew as he worked out his ideas in preparation for the final drawings. At the end of the day, Schultz used to wad the sketches up and throw them away. His secretary would rescue them from the trash, take them home, and iron them flat again.

Photography isn't permitted in any of the areas were there is original art on display, but we were able to photograph this collage of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown. This was a common story line as Lucy would yank the football away every time at the last second, and poor Charlie Brown would end up flat on his back.

The collage, which is at least 12 or 15 feet wide, is made up of ceramic tiles that are in the form of actual cartoon strips. The lines on the collage come from dark areas on the cartoon strips. The next photo shows a closeup of some of the tiles.

The museum also has a hands-on drawing area for kids of all ages. You can make an original drawing or color a pre-printed drawing. They post the drawings for a day or two, then take them down and save ALL of them in 3-ring binders. Margery is checking out some of the drawings in the photo below.

She's pointing out one that was particularly cute. In case you can't make it out, Snoopy is colored pink and Charlie Brown is saying, "I told you not to eat so much cotton candy!"

Another fun place we visited in the area was the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA, about 20 miles to the west of Napa. The visitor center is shown in the photo below.

There are factory tours, but, unfortunately, the factory is shut down the entire month of June for
maintenance. It was also a Saturday when we were there, but they had tours anyway - even on the weekends. Since
we entered a food preparation area, we had to wear mandatory head
coverings, even though they were not in production. The photo below
shows Margery making a fashion statement in her Jelly Belly hat.

Photography wasn't permitted in the factory, but there wasn't much to
photograph anyway since they were not in operation. However, there were excellent
videos documenting the process at various stops along the elevated walkway.

Jelly Belly was started in 1976, and Jelly Belly considers their jelly beans to be gourmet quality. They have 50 flavors, including some unusual ones like buttered popcorn (their number one seller), jalapeno, toasted marshmallow, A & W root beer, dark chocolate (new), and cream soda. Jelly Belly uses all natural flavorings where possible. The centers of Jelly Bellies are also flavored, not just the outer shell like most other jelly beans.

We learned it can take 7 to 21 days to make jelly beans. Jelly beans are made in several stages, and they must rest to "cure" for several days between each stage.

The jelly beans are checked at various stages throughout the production. At the end of production, the Jelly Bellies are inspected again for size. Jelly Bellies that don't measure up are called "belly flops" and are sold at a discount in the store in the visitor center.

There
was also a gallery of mosaics in the factory depicting
various famous people. These were made from thousands of Jelly Belly candies. We were able to get the photo below of the mosaic of Ronald Reagan because it was in the lobby. Ronald Reagan was a big fan of Jelly
Bellies while he was governor of California, and he carried the
tradition with him to the White House causing Jelly Belly sales to soar.
Blueberry was a new flavor created for Ronald Reagan's inauguration so
they would have a flavor that was blue in color. Three tons of red,
white, and blue jelly beans were consumed during the inauguration festivities.

Jelly Belly makes several other types of candy beside jelly beans,
including Sunkist Fruit Gems, which Paul LOVES! Even though he is on a
low carb diet, he HAD to buy a few chocolate-covered, orange-flavored
Sunkist Fruit Gems before we left. Yum!

There's still more to see in the Napa area, so check out our next post.

June 25, 2009

Sacramento, CA Part II: California Railroad Museum

In addition to being near the place where gold was discovered, Sacramento was also the starting point for the western end of the first transcontinental railroad. It is fitting that Sacramento is also the home of the California State Railroad Museum. The State Railroad Museum is a tribute to the "iron horse" and its role in connecting California to the rest of the nation. It was a "must see" recommended by a couple of Sacramento residents we met at the Stockyards in Fort Worth. Like Sutter's Fort that we wrote about in our last post, the railroad museum is run by the California State Park System.

The museum is extremely well done. There are 21 faithfully restored locomotives and rail cars on display. There are also exhibits of photos and artifacts relating to railroad history. Throughout the museum, there are many VERY WELL DONE life-like figures that help bring the stories to life. One example is the scene shown below where railroad workers are shown repairing track.

A major part of the museum is appropriately devoted to the building of the first transcontinental railroad. Theodore Judah was the chief construction engineer for the Sacramento Valley Railroad that ran 22 miles from Sacramento to Folsom. Upon completion of the line in 1855, Judah began making surveys of the mountains looking for a practical route for a railroad to connect California to the east. Having decided on a route through the infamous Donner Pass, Judah was unable to find backing in San Francisco to build the railroad, so he turned to Sacramento.

Judah contacted a group of four investors, who later became known as the Big Four, and they formed the Central Pacific Railroad in 1861. Central Pacific surveyors carefully plotted the path for the railroad. Expensive tunnels, grading, cuts, and fills were required for the route. In the photo below, Chinese laborers are depicted transporting blasting supplies. Many of the laborers for the Central Pacific were Chinese.

The next photo shows the first locomotive of the Central Pacific Railroad. It was built in 1862 in Philadelphia and had to be transported by ship around the tip of South America. The locomotive is a 4-4-0 type, meaning it has four leading wheels, four drive wheels, and no trailing wheels.

With the Civil War going on, many in California were beginning to express sympathies with the South, and there were rumblings of a secession movement. Therefore, there was an urgent need to for Washington, D. C. to establish a link with California. In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act to aid in building the transcontinental railroad. The act provided funds to the railroads for each mile of track laid, plus generous grants of public lands. The railroads sold unused land at a handsome profit.

Back in the 1860s, there were several track widths in use in the country. When rail cars came to the end of one rail line, freight had to be transferred to different cars. The Pacific Railroad Act specified a gauge of 56 1/2 inches, effectively establishing a standard track width going forward for the whole country.

While the Central Pacific Railroad was laying track from Sacramento eastward, the Union Pacific Railroad was laying track westward from their starting point in Council Bluffs, IA. Although the Union Pacific started later, they ended up laying more track than the Central Pacific because of the more difficult route the Central Pacific had through the mountains. The two railroads finally met at Promontory, UT. The transcontinental railroad was opened on May 10, 1869 with the driving of the last spike.

In addition to an emphasis on the transcontinental railroad, the museum has many other historic locomotives and rail cars. The photo below shows Margery with a Nevada Central Railway 1880s narrow gauge coach.

And the next photo shows the interior of the car. Again, life-like figures help bring the scene to life.

The monster in the next photo is Locomotive No. 4294 built in 1944 for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It is an oil-fired, type 4-8-8-2 (four leading wheels, two sets of eight drive wheels, and 2 following wheels. It weighs over 1 million pounds. One of the unique features about this locomotive is it has a cab-forward design.

One of the newest locomotives on display was this Western Pacific Railroad F-7 diesel. General Motors built about 7,500 of these F-series locomotives between 1939 and 1960. When Paul was into HO-scale model railroading in the early 1960s, the F-7 was a very popular locomotive.

Speaking of model railroading, the museum also has an excellent collection of Lionel toy trains. A few examples of the many toy trains on display are shown in the photo below.

There was also a model train layout complete with buildings, autos, lights, and even an airplane in the sky (top center just above the mountain in the background).

The California Railroad Museum is located at the eastern end of Old Sacramento, which is a collection of 53 historic buildings covering about 28 acres along the Sacramento River. This area used to be the heart of downtown Sacramento until the business district moved eastward where is is located today. The area of Old Sacramento became a rundown, neglected, high-crime area. In the 1960s, plans were set into place to redevelop the area, and many of the historic buildings were saved and restored.

We took the long way back to the car and walked around the block. The buildings now house lots of shops selling everything from toys to fine jewelry. There are also a few bars and numerous restaurants, like the Mexican restaurant on the second floor of the building in the photo below.

The next two photos show more of the buildings in Old Sacramento.

There was also a statue commemorating the Pony Express.

The pony Express was an express mail service that ran from St. Joseph, MO, to Sacramento. By using the Pony Express, the total time for mail to travel from coast to coast could be reduced to 10 days. The service only operated from April, 1860 to October, 1861, but it proved transcontinental travel was possible year-round. Pony Express announced its closure two days after the first transcontinental telegraph line was completed connecting Omaha and Sacramento.

After the museum and our stroll through Old Sacramento, we needed to hit a Walmart. There aren't all that many Walmarts in California, and VERY few of them are Super Walmarts. In other states, it seems like 80 to 90% of all Walmarts are Super Walmarts. In California, it's the other way around. There aren't that many Walmarts to begin with, and only about 10 to 20% are Super Walmarts. Sacramento is one of those rare locations that has a Super Walmart, so we stopped on our way back to the motor home to stock up on supplies.

From Sacramento, we backtracked a little and headed southwest to Napa, CA. We'll have more info about Napa in our next post.

June 18, 2009

Sausalito, CA

Sausalito, CA, is a small town on San Francisco Bay just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. We wanted to avoid the city of San Francisco during the week because of the traffic, so we approached Sausalito from the north. The distance was a little farther than going through the city, but the time was about the same, especially with the potential for heavy traffic in the city.

Just north of Sausalito in Kappas Marina and Waldo Point Harbor is a floating community of about 400 houseboats, some of which are shown in the photo below.

The houseboat community got its start in the late 1940s at the end of WWII. During the war, a large portion of the Sausalito waterfront was turned into shipyards to build Liberty Ships (more about the shipyards later). After the war, portions of the waterfront were sold off, primarily for the purposes of salvaging equipment and material.

In the 1950s, "beatniks" began to occupy abandoned barges and buildings. San Francisco was a favorite destination of hippies in the '60s and '70s, so the inhabitants of the houseboat community grew even more rapidly during that time. There was no zoning on the waterfront, so they built whatever they wanted from whatever materials they could round up.

By the '70s, the alternative community began to clash the wealthy residents who lived on the hill above the bay and with with governmental regulations primarily brought about by environmental concerns around the bay. In the '70s and '80s, the houseboat area underwent a rebuilding and transformation that led to the eclectic mix of styles that exist there today.

The houseboats range from luxurious to marginally habitable. There are a few like the one in the photo below. It's hard to see in the photo, but the barge it's sitting on is all rusted out. It probably won't be floating very much longer.

A little farther south of the houseboats is a model of the San Francisco Bay built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s to test a plan to dam the bay. The model covers one and one half acres, holds 180,000 gallons of water, and mimics the tides and currents of the bay. The idea for the dam died, but the model was subsequently used to study oil spills, pollution, the mixing of salt and fresh water, and various dredging and filling projects. Although computers are used for these types of studies today, the physical model has been maintained as an educational and teaching tool.

On the way to the viewing area for the model, there are displays about the ecology of the bay. These include a display of how the water from
snow melt in the Sierra Nevada Mountains flows down to the bay. The water that flows from the mountains is carried to the bay by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Approximately 40% of the area of California drains into San Francisco Bay.In the photo below, Margery is pointing out the San Joaquin river.

There is a high overlook area where you can see the main part of the model from a height equivalent to flying in a plane at 12,000 feet. You can also walk down and stand at the edge of the water. The photo below shows a portion of the bay model from the water's edge.

San Francisco Bay is actually a series of interconnected bays. The Sacramento and San Jaoquin Rivers flow into Suisun Bay to the east. Honker and Grizzly Bays branch off Suisun Bay. San Pablo Bay lies to the north of the Golden Gate, and South Bay is obviously to the south.

The main part of the San Francisco Bay is 3 to 12 miles wide east to west and between 48 and 60 miles long north to south and covers about 400 square miles. Various other estuaries, river deltas, and wetlands associated with the bay cover even more area. Consequently, the model is huge. You can't see all of it from one location. It has a horizontal scale of 1 foot equals 1,000 feet, but the vertical scale isexaggerated at 1 foot equals 100 feet to better see differences in depth. The model goes through a complete tide cycle every 14.9 minutes.

San Francisco Bay has an average depth of less than 18 feet, although there are many deeper channels. The deepest part of the bay is right at the Golden Gate Bridge where the depth is 300 feet. An average of 390 billion gallons of seawater flows through the Golden Gate with each outgoing and incoming tide. There are two high and two low tides a day.

The bay used to be navigable as far south as San Jose, but hydraulic mining for gold in the 1850s brought tons of sediment down from the mountains. Much of the sediment settled in the South Bay where there is little current.

There are also areas around the model where you can go down so the water is at about waist level. Paul is standing at such a location and pointing out the Golden Gate Bridge in the photo below.

The model of San Francisco Bay is built on a site that was part of the shipyards we mentioned earlier. There is a museum in a corner of the building that houses the bay model dedicated to shipbuilding during WWII along the shore of the bay in this area. A company called Marinship was formed to bid on government contracts to build Liberty Ships, which were cargo ships, and tankers. In the photo below, Margery is checking out one of the displays in the shipyard museum.

The keel of the first ship was laid only 91 days after the start of construction of the shipyard. In a newsreel-type film shown at the museum, one ship was sliding into the water being launched as a crane simultaneously swung the first steel into place for the keel of the next ship. At the peak, 20,000 workers were employed at Marinship. Marinship built a total of 93 Liberty Ships, oilers, and tankers from June, 1942 until the end of the war in 1945.

On our way out of the museum we stopped at the Corps of Engineers dock along the bay. One of the tasks of the Corps of Engineers is keeping the bay free from floating debris. They have a boat with a large conveyor and a boom with a claw to pick up floating objects.

From the model of the bay, it was only a few minutes farther south to the town of Sausalito. In the mid-1800s, boats could easily reach Sausalito from San Francisco, but wagons had to make the arduous journey all the way around the northern part of the bay. Consequently, Sausalito was generally dominated by two diverse groups who had access to boats - commercial fishermen and wealthy yacht owners. In the late 1800s, the North Pacific Railroad extended its tracks southward to Sausalito, and a ferry across to San Francisco was established.

In 1926, a major auto ferry connected San Francisco and Sausalito, and long lines of cars waiting for the ferry were commonplace. During Prohibition, Sausalito became a major distribution point for illegal booze brought in from Canada.

Sausalito has long attracted artists, writers, and the wealthy. William Randolph Hearst lived here in the early 1900s before he built Hearst Castle in San Simeon to the south. Today, because Sausalito is right at the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, it is a popular tourist destination. There are small hotels, restaurants and open-air cafes, high-end shops, and picturesque views of San Francisco from the marinas along the bay. We walked along the bay and around the square where Margery and Molly enjoyed the views.

As we said, Sausalito is only a short distance north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The headlands on the north side of the Golden Gate are part of a National Recreation Area, so we drove a little farther south of Sausalito and up to the top of the hill where we could see the bridge.

Incidentally, the Golden Gate Bridge has never been painted gold. The bridge gets its name form the Golden Gate, which is the name of the opening across which the bridge is built.

Although the idea for a bridge was not new, the first practical plan took shape in 1916. It took more than a decade to drum up support for the project and to raise funding. There were those who said the bridge could not be built because of the great depth of the water and because of the strong currents. The California Legislature approved the bridge in 1928, but the Stock Market crash of 1929 put the project on hold until a backer for a bond measure could be found. Construction finally started in 1933 and was completed in 1937.

The total length of the bridge is 1.7 miles. The length of the center span is 4,200 feet. When it was built, the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, but it has since been surpassed by 8 other bridges. The center span is still the second longest main span surpassed only by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. Based on average high tide level, the clearance under the bridge is 220 feet, and the tops of the towers are 476 feet above the water.

San Francisco is a major seaport. Container shipping has all but replaced bulk cargo, and there were several container ships like the one in the photo below sailing into the bay while we were at the overlook.

There was another overlook near the one where we stopped first. The second overlook is on the site of Battery Spencer, which was part of Fort Baker. Fort Baker, along with the Presidio at the south end of the bridge and Alcatraz Island, was an important part of the defense of San Francisco Bay from the late 1800s until the 1940s. Construction of Battery Spencer was started in 1893 and completed in 1897. The photo below shows some of the remaining buildings at Battery Spencer. The circular foundation to the left was for one of three 12-inch, breech-loading guns at Battery Spencer. The last gun was removed in 1943, and Fort Baker was closed in 2000.

The next photo is the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer. San Francisco is visible through the vertical bridge supports to the left.

It was a little late in the day, and headed back to the motor home by the northern route rather than drive through the city at the beginning of rush hour. We still hit some rush-hour traffic going through Oakland, but we finally made it back to the motor home. We're really glad we don't have to fight traffic like that every day. After a good night's rest and a day off to catch up on some grocery shopping and chores, we were off on another adventure. We'll tell you all about it in our next post.